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■ Politico on heightened alert after publishing leaked SCOTUS draft (Daily Beast) / ‘Politico exec Traci Schweikert has notified employees that the outlet is proactively implementing safety measures at its offices "given the heightened visibility to POLITICO." ' (Oliver Darcy) / 'Politico employees have been advised to be vigilant about who enters elevators with them at the office, and to consider removing any personal details from social media accounts that identify them as Politico staff, according to an internal memo’ (Katie Robertson)
■ Politico scoop on Supreme Court draft opinion triggers media intrigue (Washington Post) / Politico published the draft opinion after an 'extensive review process.' (New York Times) / 'Among the many takes that I saw this morning were people arguing that Politico broke the law by publishing an alleged SCOTUS draft opinion. It did not, and here is why.’ (Jeff Kosseff)
■ The original Roe v. Wade decision also was leaked to the press (Washington Post) / Politico's Supreme Court leak leaves some lingering ethics questions (Poynter) / ‘Sources have motives, and the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade raises a question as old as the Roman Empire. Cui bono? Who benefits?’ (New York Times) / ‘Neal Katyal, who has argued dozens of cases before the court and as a young lawyer worked for Justice Stephen Breyer, compared the apparent leak to The New York Times’ 1971 publication of the government’s secret history of the Vietnam War, known as the Pentagon Papers’ (AP via Fortune) / Roberts says leaked Alito draft opinion is authentic but not final, opens leak investigation (Washington Post)
■ 'ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl has tested positive for Covid-19, people familiar with the matter confirm, days after sitting next to Kim Kardashian at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and interacting with President Joe Biden.' (Politico) / 'New: White House Correspondents' Association president Steven Portnoy tells me he is aware of “a small number of cases, in the single digits,” of people who attended the correspondents dinner Saturday night.' (Paul Farhi)
■ Lee quietly slashes jobs following hostile takeover attempt (Axios)
■ Don Lemon accuser recants assault accusations, drops lawsuit (The Wrap) / 'After a lot of inner reflection and a deep dive into my memory, I have come to realize that my recollection of the events that occurred on the night in question when I first met CNN anchor Don Lemon were not what I thought they were when I filed this lawsuit.' (Dustin Hice via Dylan Byers)
Press freedom
■ Journalists around the world face threats for simply doing their job (Washington Post) / Around the world, journalists are resisting the regimes that would jail and kill them (The Guardian) / Disinformation, censorship, trigger global retreat of press freedom (VOA) / On World Press Freedom Day, we look at a few good (and bad) changes around the globe (Poynter) / RSF's 2022 World Press Freedom Index (RSF)
■ Reporters Committee analyzes the state of U.S. press freedom in in 2021 (RCFP)
■ On #WorldPressFreedomDay, Reps. Adam Schiff and Steve Chabot, co-chairs of bipartisan Congressional Freedom of the Press Caucus, introduce resolution highlighting the importance of an independent press to a healthy democracy. (Lori Streifler)
■ News leaders statement on President Biden meeting with family of Austin Tice (NPC/NPCJI)
■ Strengthening press freedom at home and abroad: 10 recommendations for the world’s democracies (International Press Institute)
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Every day journalists put themselves in peril to do their jobs, facing threats like murder, kidnapping, violence, harassment, intimidation, and more.
Today, World Press Freedom Day, we honor those who risk their lives in order to hold power to account.
The National Press Club hosted a virtual discussion exploring significant developments in press freedom cases impacting recent John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award honorees. Every year, the National Press Club and the Journalism Institute bestow the press Freedom Award upon journalists who bravely disclose the truth in trying circumstances.
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Austin Tice
2015 John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award honoree
This has been a momentous year in the Austin Tice case, especially in the last 48 hours, Bill McCarren, Executive Director of the National Press Club and board member of Reporters Without Borders U.S., said.
The Tice family finally met with President Biden on Monday after Austin was honored at the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner on April 30 (watch here).
Since August 2020, the Washington Post has led a campaign dedicated to ensuring the safe return of Tice.
Tice, a veteran U.S. Marine Corps captain and award-winning journalist, was detained near Damascus in August 2012, three days after his 31st birthday, while covering escalating conflict in the region. The U.S. government believes he is alive and being held by an affiliate of the Syrian government.
His case has now gone across three U.S. presidential administrations.
“Getting on the president’s to-do list is a vital thing,” McCarren said. “The Tices have been at this in a vigorous way.”
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Emilio Gutiérrez Soto
2017 John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award honoree
Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto fled to the United States in 2008 after he received a report that Mexican military personnel were trying to kill him for his reporting on local corruption. His requests for asylum have all been denied and his case is under appeal.
“The current administration has the opportunity to right a multi-year wrong,” said Kathy Kiely, Lee Hills Professor of Press Freedom Studies at the University of Missouri and former reporter for USA Today.
Gutiérrez Soto entered the United States legally and has not been granted asylum despite the threats to his life. He has instead been imprisoned twice in immigration detention cells — the second time following a speech at the National Press Club.
The Department of Homeland Security has not offered a reason for detainment. As a result, the National Press Club, along with lawyers from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the internal communications regarding Gutiérrez Soto to find out why he has been imprisoned.
“We’re in this for the long haul. And so are many great lawyers,” Kiely said.
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Maria Ressa
2020 John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award honoree
Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa continues to be the target of repeated efforts by the government of President Rodrigo Duterte to silence her. She was convicted in the Philippines in 2020 on trumped-up charges of cyber libel, and has emerged as one of the leading voices for press freedom and independent journalism in the world.
“Just because you have won the Nobel [Peace Prize], it is not as strong of a shield as we’d like,” Kiely said. “We have to keep talking about this case. Because the enemies of press freedom would like nothing more than all of us to get exhausted and stop talking about it.”
Jason Rezaian, Washington Post Global Opinions writer, author of the book: “Prisoner,” and producer of the podcast “544 Days”, added that Ressa’s case illustrates how the Philippines has been a test site for big technology companies with little oversight. She’s been “sounding the alarm” for years about the need for regulation on hate speech.
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Danny Fenster
2021 John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award honoree
Journalist Danny Fenster was detained in Myanmar from May to November 2021. He was managing editor of Frontier Myanmar when he was arrested at Yangon International Airport while traveling to Michigan to see family.
Fenster was released from Insein Prison following diplomatic discussions between former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson and General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's Commander in Chief.
“I think it's important for people to understand that the choice to go into difficult societies and report is one that the vast majority of us take, understanding the risks that it poses to our safety,” said Rezaian, who was held captive in Evin Prison in Iran from July 2014 until January 2016 and was a 2015 John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award honoree. “We do that knowingly because it's that important to us.”
The 2022 Aubuchon honorees will be announced later this year and recognized at the Fourth Estate Gala this fall.
Watch the full World Press Freedom Day discussion here.
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Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute for “My First FOIA: Open records are for everyone” to learn what government records you have a right to and how to request them. Whether you’re a journalist, student, parent, community activist, teacher, business owner, or taxpayer, you will learn how to request public records that can help you in your personal and professional life.
Registration is open for this program, which will take place on Friday, May 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET.
Participants will learn:
- Why an individual might file a FOIA or open records request
- The types of public records that exist
- When you should rely on a FOIA or open records request, and other ways to find information
- How to file an open records request
- How to interpret the information you receive
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Do you know any leader who isn’t chronically busy today, yourself included? Even if you’re keeping up with your responsibilities, you probably long for time to just pause and think.
Let me offer one small step that can free up a little bandwidth for us: We need to make sure we’re not wasting each other’s time.
We do it in lots of small ways; we cause people extra work and waste their time when we:
- Call a meeting without an agenda and let it run needlessly long.
- End a meeting without “next steps,” causing people to have to further communicate, regroup, and realign their plans.
- Send messages without subject lines, making them hard to prioritize and find later, then fail to modify the subject line on a thread when there’s a key update.
- Answer a two-question inquiry with a response to only one, causing the sender a delay and an unnecessary follow-up.
- Take bad notes during conversations, calls, or meetings, assuming others will track things for us, then expect them to fill our knowledge gaps down the road.
- Fail to keep good files on people, programs, and projects then reach out to others for the material we can’t find.
- Let our team members assume we want something NOW, even though it isn’t urgent, because we failed to indicate when we really need it.
Always be sure to listen with care and act with collegiality. At the very least, you’ll change some irritating habits in your group. At best, you’ll win back a little precious time.
Get more career advice: Read Jill's columns | Watch Manager's Minute videos
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This newsletter is written & edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Holly Butcher Grant, and Julie Moos. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover.
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The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest.
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